Not everyone was impressed by NSW Roads and Maritime Services temporary asphalt batching plant "drop-in information session"

Meme contributed

The Pacific Highway upgrade between Woolgoolga and Ballina is being progressed by the Pacific Complete consortium composed of NSW Roads and Maritime Services (RMS), UK multinational Laing O'Rourke and Canadian multinational WSP/Parsons Brinckerhoff.

On 11 July 2018 this consortium held a drop-in information session on the subject of the proposed temporary asphalt batching plant at Woombah, a small village in the Clarence River estuary.

This batching plant servicing the Pacific Highway upgrade for the next two and a half years will see up tp 600 heavy and light vehicle movements each day at the Pacific Highway turnoff to Woombah and Iluka - up to 500 heavy vehicle and 100 light vehicle.

Residents from Woombah and Iluka attended the information session.

It was a masterpiece of information sharing apparently.

 Here are selected quotes from one Woombah resident's notes taken at the time.

* "Drop in session by Pacific Complete = complete disaster."

* "The Pad being constructed out of existing 'stock pile and lay down' being prepared for the Asphalt plant did not require approval - Bronwyn Campbell, Communications Director"

* "It just made it the lead contender for the only three sites you investigated raising it above the 1 in 100 flood level?

"Don't know what you're getting at" -  Bronwyn Campbell, Communications Director" 

* "Safety Audit has been conducted for the Iluka turnoff" - Bronwyn Campbell, Communications Director 

By who?

"Don't know" - Bronwyn Campbell, Communications Director 

Can I get a copy?

"No - we do not give those out" - Bronwyn Campbell, Communications Director" 

* "The TRAFFIC INFO TABLE manned by Dave Allars and Ryan Leth were asked what traffic management were to be put in place for the construction of the Plant and the construction of the new Iluka Woombah intersection.

"Don't know" - Dave Allars"

Additional comment from a Woombah resident:

"Did you get to see Andrew Baker's response to briefing? Makes Gulaptis look smart."

“In his defense, he was lied to as well. Because they will force ALL TRAFFIC onto the new route - they told people was for southbound traffic only - the map clearly shows the old route (old Pac and Garrets will be closed) making the problem in fact - worse."

An email discussing the information session was also being sent out from Woombah:

“Pushing the residential/truck choke point from Iluka Road down to the new access road by 31 March 2019 is not a solution to the traffic safety problem. By closing off the Garrett's Lane Access to the Pacific Hwy, the exact same problem of congested traffic with the Plant will still exist into the foreseeable future. Given the Q1 2019 Map (attached) the dangers are increased with truck entry just meters from the New Pacific Hwy Entry. They will make the traffic problem even worse.”

One Iluka resident had this to say about the information session:

"I see in the handout that they decided to slip in a concrete batching plant on the same site as well. Does that mean there will be even more trucks?"

Another Iluka resident had this to say about that same  information session:

“Unbelievably slick PR operation engaging up to 30 or even 50 of the staff from within the complex, mostly office and management type staff I think. All squeaky clean and friendly with first names on their jackets.

A few of the highway people were across the issues but there was a lot of “I don’t know" or "I’ll get back to you” or “come over here and meet so and so who might know”.

They claim the batching plant is world’s best practice with systems in place to capture fugitive dusts and emissions.

I asked repeatedly about trucks carrying bitumen into the asphalt plant, or out of the plant as asphalt  were considered a Hazmat incident if there was an accident involving either the bitumen tankers or the asphalt trucks, but couldn’t really get an answer. No one seemed to know.

Plenty of spin last night.”

Note

Bitumin and asphalt are flammable and combustible solids which are Class 4 dangerous goods.

NSW Roads and Maritime Services, Work Health and Safety Procedures: Bitumin, 1 September 2017, excerpts:

Roads and Maritime Services managers must ensure that appropriate systems are in place to identify, assess and control workers’ exposure to bitumen. Additionally, managers must ensure that workers are provided with relevant information, training, instruction and supervision in the safe use, handling and emergency response requirements (for example bitumen burns cards) of bitumen products. Workers should be able to conduct their work without a risk to their health and safety. For their part, they need to take necessary precautions to prevent and effectively manage the potential hazards and risks of working with bitumen. Industry partners are required to meet work health and safety (WHS) legislative requirements and have in place appropriate safety management systems. Designers of Roads and Maritime infrastructure must eliminate or control (where elimination is not reasonably practicable) the possibility of injury or damage caused by work with bitumen during the construction, use, maintenance or demolition of infrastructure…

Work with bitumen refers to road construction and maintenance work involving:

* All aspects of ‘cold’ bitumen work (such as crack sealing or jointing and road maintenance using cold mix with emulsions applied at ambient temperature)

* ‘Hot’ bitumen products, which are those applied above ambient temperature. These include blending or heated bitumen binders, asphalt batch plant product, laying asphalt, stabilisation of granular materials with hot foamed bitumen, sprayed sealing with hot cutback or polymer modified bitumen or crack sealing with hot sealants

* Bitumen binders include cutback bitumen (with added solvents), bitumen emulsion (with chemically treated water), modified binders (including suitable storage with correct product signs and classification under Dangerous Goods) and oxidised bitumen…..

After identifying the hazards, risks and levels of risk for each risk, it is now necessary to identify and implement appropriate hazard controls. Where no single measure is sufficient, a number or combination of controls is usually required….

Ensuring emergency plans are developed for the specific worksite and emergency information panels are displayed on sides of vehicles carrying dangerous goods (HAZCHEM and UN Numbers), emergency contact numbers and Transport Management Centre (131700), where appropriate.

UPDATE

On Saturday 14 July 2018 the Woombah community held a meeting on the subject of the proposed temporary asphalt plant. This meeting was attended by Roads and Maritime Services Bob Higgins, some Pacific Complete staff and the Nationals MP for Clarence, Chris Gulaptis.

North Coast Voices has received a number of emails concerning this meeting and here are selected quotes:

* “Time after time – Pacific Complete were asked direct and specific questions that were uncomfortably left unanswered.”

* “Chris Gulaptis – when pressed several times “Would YOU like to like your family to live next door to an asphalt plant?” drew a pathetic “I do not know” to finally a capitulation.”

* “When asked about the toxic fumes Mr Gulaptis said ‘I don’t know until I know….but if its bad, if its toxic then of course it should be cut down, it should be closed down and it shouldn't be anywhere in fact, let alone on the corner of Iluka road but at the end of the day its got to go somewhere and we are going to look at the best site and the site that will least impact on our community’.”

* “Mr Bob Higgins, the representative from the RMS, who is in charge of delivering this project, was even more dismissive of community concerns regarding health, suggesting that things have improved over the years and “They have filters they have scrubbers so essentially it is steam which you see coming out.”  He further went on to question in relation to odour s from the plant “Is it harmful or is it inconvenient”  “Is it harmful?  I don’t believe this is the case.”  

I was appalled by that response. Steam does not have an odour! Bob Higgins has previously admitted on the ABC radio that Asphalt Plants do smell, they do have an odour. Breathing in  and smelling something means you are reacting to certain chemicals in the air. Those odours can be toxic and cause headache, nausea and other harmful health effects. 

Mr Higgins also stated that not only is the site to be used for stockpiling paving materials and then the asphalt batching plant but also a Foamed bitumen plant, which had not been disclosed to the community previously.  I find this also to be an additional concern."

* “It was brought to the attention of the meeting by a local residents that the Mororo Wetlands which lies on the western side of the highway is an area of significant environmental significant s with a number off endangered species of animals and pants as well as a koala presence.  From observation of the site it is clear that any run off from that site runs underneath the highway into Mororo Creek and Mororo Reserve. This was not addressed by anyone at the meeting."

* “Adam did talk about a new corridor being constructed under the highway for koalas to travel from one side of the highway to another however nothing about the current corridor which currently opens up onto the prepared site of the batch plant. He did not state the new corridor would be completed prior to proposed operation of the batch plant. Has anyone informed the Koalas?”

* “No answers were forthcoming from any speaker that addressed the dangers to the public, only that studies were currently underway. They had no plans in place to protect the safety of local road users.”

It appears that this meeting was at times quite testy with Gulaptis alternating between being quite defensive or argumentative, however it has resulted in a promise on the part of Roads and Maritime Services of a second extension to the formal submission period. With a date yet to be fixed.

Unfortunately what appears to have also been admitted is that because there are not one but two seperate plants that will be operating on the site, the number of construction vehicle movement is higher than previously disclosed.

For those interested, here is a link to the audio of this meeting:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cnwP7E_PK6jFBdw7ec0bxh5Ywsv_bUNi/view.

At 43:11mins a Woombah resident living close to the proposed site with her husband who has Stage 4 lung cancer spoke of lack of available information, questioned air quality and any effect this may have on her husband's quality of life. 

FURTHER UPDATE

Another concerned Woombah resident’s opinion of the 14 July community meeting:

“From the outset it was clear the community who had gathered in the park yesterday, wouldn't receive the answers they deserved to the questions they had asked.  Chris Gulpatis was keen to tell the crowd just how much money his government was spending.   I suspect we were meant to feel grateful for all the government is doing for us but isn't this their job? Chris explained he had had a briefing on the plant the other day and thought it all looked pretty good.  He qualified this with not being a resident of Woombah or Iluka, nor an engineer, he also wasn't familiar with the process.  Hey hold on Chris why didn't you make yourself familiar about this?  You knew you were coming to a meeting with your constituents who were concerned?....

The first resident to ask a question was about the traffic and the number of vehicles we could expect.  The documentation had these numbers as being different and residents were clearly confused.  They were told there would be around 300 vehicle movements on the days when the plant was working at peak but that there were other truck movements to expect and so the number was more like 500.  There was a quick sorry but that was the nature of the business. 

When asked about contingency plans for peak holiday periods like Christmas, was there a plan for managing this? We were told that up and down the highway there were severe guidelines in place with their contractors designed to manage their movements on the highway during holiday periods and that has been in place for many years.  So how come the pretty graph you have given us shows peak truck movements in January next year as the bitumen plant ramps up their production?  Aren't you contradicting yourself Bob?

Next we heard from a resident living in Banana Road with specialist interest in wildlife.  He asked about the large koala corridor that comes out at the access point of the proposed bitumen plant.  The response to this was rather amusing from Bob as he started he started to tell him about the koala corridor, the resident was quick to say I know about this too Bob.  He asked what happens here with this corridor where we have koalas using this corridor all the time and coming out at Mororo Creek Reserve.  He informed Bob the UNSW had been working in the area for the last four years and they had found endangered species including the golden headed python and sugar gliders.  His question was how do you address this?  Bob reminded us of his long experience and general experience of building roads on the highway and that he had come across this before.  He was asked where was this information for the public to consider when undertaking their consultation.  There was no reply to this question.

The next question was about the traffic flow asking about the high numbers of trucks in January - was this a mistake in the projections being put forward as it was a peak period for tourism in the area during this holiday period.  His answer to this questions was rather confusing and he just restated his earlier advice that there were strict guidelines in place for contractors……

The next resident summed it up eloquently, the community were concerned, they were worried the plant would affect their health.  Full stop.  Another resident who worked for WIRES said he was pretty pissed off as he had released a number of rescued animals into the area of the plant.  When asked about how odour would be contained on the site the team looked worried.  Bob took the question saying odour was an interesting one because it was all about smell.... yes Bob we know!  The question he suggested we needed to think about was - was it harmful to someone or was it an inconvenience to someone, he said he couldn't answer this one, the crowd suggested they could!

One of the residents closest to the plant had a couple of questions regarding due process.  She had bought there just two years ago and had done due diligence of all the searches possible.  She knew the road works were coming and was grateful for that.  The only thing that turned up in her searches was the compound across the road.  She asked why if you know there is bitumen required for the road why couldn't I find such information.  A year ago someone from the consortium had turned up at her property unannounced to say they were renting some land for raw materials as a depot or stockpile.  Moving on a year later they get a letter box drop saying feedback was being sought with a week to do this.  When attending the information session last Wednesday she asked where was the report about air quality?  She was told this wasn't available for two weeks.  She asked this because as one of her major concerns is about this as her husband is dying from Stage 4 Lung Cancer.  She couldn't understand how this information wasn't available within the timeframe of the consultation.  She appealed directly to Chris asking him "what can you do for my husband?  We bought here because of the zoning, because of how it protects wildlife, for the environment, we have no chance to sell our property.  A) because they don't have the energy, B) because they would lose money and my husband's dying days is going to be what no one here seems to be able to tell me what he will be breathing in, what he will smell and how its going to impact on his quality of life and his quality of death"….

Do the residents of Woombah feel they have been listened to?  I don't think so.  One woman expressed just that before the consultation was wound up. She was upset because she didn't feel like we had been listened to and most people in the audience felt the same way.

At the end there was a little concession – let’s extend the consultation.  That's all well and good but when are you going to hand over the information we need upon which to make our judgements?  When exactly? "

NSW Berejiklian Government 2018: How not to conduct a community consultation in the Clarence Valley, NSW

The Daily Examiner, Letter to the Editor, 10 July 2018, p.13:

So Road and Maritime Services intends to establish a temporary asphalt batching plant at Woombah with a heavy truck access road crossing Iluka Road approximately 230 metres from the Pacific Highway T-intersection.

One couldn’t choose a site more unsafe for private vehicles and more disruptive to tourist traffic. One that also is less than 500 metres from a waterway which empties into the Clarence River Estuary.

One couldn’t find a more inadequate approach to community consultation.

The Pillar Valley community were given an RMS community information session scheduled to last one and a half hours in May 2016 ahead of construction of a temporary batching plant there.

In September 2016 the Donnellyville community received a detailed 5-page information document at least a month ahead of construction and this included an aerial map showing infrastructure layout within the proposed temporary batching plant site. Up front the community was allotted two drop-in information sessions.

Most of the residents in Woombah and Iluka appear to have found out about the proposed temporary plant planned for Woombah in July 2018, the same month construction is due to start.

This plant will be in use for the next two and a half years but only a few residents were given some rudimentary information in a 3-page document and initially the community was not even offered a drop-in information session.

Perhaps the NSW Minister for Roads Maritime and Freight, Melinda Pavey, and Roads and Maritime Services might like to explain the haphazard, belated approach taken to informing the communities of Woombah and Iluka of the proposed plant.

The people of Woombah and Iluka deserve better. They deserve a formal information night which canvasses all the issues, with representatives from RMS and the Pacific Highway project team prepared to address concerns and answer questions, as well as a representative of the Minister for Roads, Maritime and Freight in attendance as an observer.

They don’t deserve to be fobbed off with a quick patch-up, comprising a drop-in information session and one RMS representative deciding to attend a local community run meeting.

I’m sure that all residents and business owners in both Woombah and Iluka would appreciate a departmental re-think of this situation.

Judith Melville, Yamba

It is also beginning to look as though Roads and Maritime Services is only just getting around to meeting with Clarence Valley shire councillors as a group this week to brief them on the asphalt batching plant site.

Labor Candidate Janelle Saffin: public sector infrastructure investment declined by 50 per cent under Abbott-Turnbull Government and investment in the Pacific Highway upgrade was cut by $351 million

Shadow Minister For Infrastructure And Transport, Shadow Minister For Cities and MP Grayndler Anthony Albanese & Candidate For Page Janelle Saffin, joint media release 12 June 2016:

COALITION HAS LET DOWN PAGE

The Abbott-Turnbull Government has short-changed the people of Page with more than $11 million in cuts to financial assistance grants used by local councils to maintain roads.

The Government also cut investment in the Pacific Highway duplication by in the 2016 Budget, following on from a cut of $130 million in the 2015 Budget.

Only a Shorten Labor Government can be trusted to invest in the infrastructure needed in northern NSW to boost economic productivity and improve road safety, and to ensure councils have the resources they need to maintain local roads.

We stand on our record.

Between 2007 and 2013, the former Labor Federal Government invested $7.9 billion on the Pacific Highway duplication.

That investment dwarfed the $1.3 billion invested by the former Howard Coalition Government over 12 years.

Labor also promised, built and opened the Alstonville Bypass, which was completed in 2011.

The bypass has reduced the level of traffic moving through Alstonville by 50 per cent and eliminated a major bottleneck between Ballina and Lismore.

The Liberal-National Government has talked a lot about infrastructure investment but cut funding.

Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show that between the September quarters of 2013 and 2015, public sector infrastructure investment declined by 50 per cent.

To conceal its failures, the Government has re-announced road projects developed and funded under budgets of the former Labor Government to pretend they were new. 

A Shorten Labor Government will get nation building back on track.

Labor calls out Team Turnbull on its Pacific Highway Magical Infrastructure Re-announcement Tour

Shadow Minister For Infrastructure And Transport Anthony Albanese, Member For Richmond Justine Elliot and Candidate For Page Janelle Saffin, Joint Media Release, 11 June 2016:

LABOR WILL GET BACK TO WORK ON PACIFIC HIGHWAY

A Shorten Labor Government will end the Coalition’s go-slow approach to the Pacific Highway duplication and get this project back on track to improve productivity and

road safety in northern NSW.

In the 2016 Budget, the Turnbull Government cut $351 million from the Pacific Highway duplication project.

To conceal its cuts, the Government has continually re-announced parts of the Pacific Highway upgrade that were designed and funded by the former Labor

Federal Government.

It is bad enough that Malcolm Turnbull has cut funding for this critical project. But by pretending otherwise with his ongoing Magical Infrastructure Re-announcement

Tour, Mr Turnbull is treating the people of coastal NSW like fools.

Labor can be trusted to deliver on the Pacific Highway.

Between 2007 and 2013 the former Labor Federal Government invested $7.9 billion on the highway, delivering important projects including the Banora Point upgrade,

the Kempsey, Ballina and Bulahdelah bypasses and the Sapphire to Arrawarra, Frederickton to Eungai and Tintenbar to Ewingsdale sections.

Labor’s investment dwarfed the $1.3 billion invested by the former Howard Coalition Government over 12 years. Labor delivered six times the investment in half the time.

Finishing the Pacific Highway will boost the economic productivity of the entire northern NSW region by taking trucks off the road and easing traffic congestion.

But during its period in office, the Coalition has not started a single new project on the highway.

It has also slashed financial assistance grants that local councils use to maintain local roads by $11.3 million over the next three years in the seat of Page and $4.4

million in the seat of Richmond.

And it has failed to progress the proposed High Speed Rail link between Brisbane and Melbourne via Sydney and Canberra, a visionary project that would turbo charge

economic growth in Northern NSW, with stations planned for Casino and Grafton.

A Shorten Labor Government will create a High Speed Rail Authority to advance planning for the project and begin to acquire the corridor before it is built out by

urban sprawl.

So what type of jobs might Clarence Valley workers get from 155km of Pacific Highway upgrade?

In October 2014 the timeline Prime Minister Tony Abbott placed on completion of the Pacific Highway upgrade between Woolgoolga and the NSW-Qld border was by the "end of the decade", or to put in another way, by 2020.

All the larger contracts (with contract values ranging from $132.5 million down to less than $500,000) were either invitee only or advertised and, these have been awarded to firms from outside the Clarence Valley and sometimes out of the state for periods up to 2016 and 2017.

In all fairness most of these contracts were beyond the means of most Clarence Valley businesses because of the steep prequalification financial levels required to assure both the federal and state government co-funders of a contractor’s financial stability, solvency, and capacity to manage cash flow requirements.

So how are valley businesses going to benefit from the est. $220 million this approximately 155km upgrade (from 6km north of Woolgoolga to 6km south of Ballina) will cost?

Sadly, Clarence Valley Council let the cat out of the bag in its media release of 29 January 2014:

“While the exact contracts are unknown, we do know there will be opportunity for local businesses,”….

“Examples of opportunities this may present are; landscaping, cleaning, drainage, fencing, etc. [my red bolding]

There are currently only two open tenders available on the NSW eTendering website and these are for an Independent Hydrological Expert Service and Registration of Interest for the Design and Construction of the bridge over the Clarence River at Harwood, NSW. Even the emu fencing contract between Glenugie and Tyndale has passed valley businesses by.

There has also been talk of the jobs expected to be generated by the upgrade section between Glenugie to Grafton and Iluka-Maclean-Yamba, which includes a second bridge at Harwood.

With the valley-wide unemployment rate running at 8.1 per cent (Grafton 8.9 per cent and Maclean-Yamba-Iluka 7.8 per cent) and with negative employment growth in the September Quarter 2014, it would appear that Clarence Valley locals must pin their hopes on sub-contracting crumbs falling from the table once construction work commences or on finding grunt work with the major contractors, cross their fingers that some of those workers from elsewhere want local accommodation for the twelve to twenty-four months these companies might be working somewhere in the valley and, hope like hell that the Harwood Bridge construction - and the separately funded Grafton Bridge project* - begin by 2018.

* The NSW 2014-15 Budget Papers mention Grafton Bridge, with a foreshadowed $117 million in state funding without any specified timeline, but only $8 million actually available for bridge and feeder roads planning this financial year.

PACIFIC HIGHWAY: Nationals MP Kevin Hogan and his November 2013 electorate newsletter

The Northern Star: Federal and State MPs Kevin Hogan and Don Page hard at work allegedly turning “the first sod”

Complete with a colourfully festive holly sprig graphic, Nationals MP Kevin Hogan’s glossy November 2013 newsletter led off with this opening paragraph: Within weeks of being sworn in as the Federal Member for Page, Kevin was turning the first sod for the Pimlico to Teven upgrade on the Woolgoolga to Ballina section of the Pacific Highway. “The political squabbling is over. We are getting on with the job of saving lives,”.......

I can breathe a sigh of relief – Kevin has donned his superman costume and taken to the air.

He has turned the sod on a section of the Pacific Highway approximately 2.3 kilometres long, being built by Leightons Constructions Pty Ltd and, funded as part of the joint former Labor Federal Government and current NSW Government commitment to the upgrade with preliminary ‘soft soil’ work begun in January and project tenders invited in April 2013.

Kevin of course was not elected to the 44^th Australian Parliament until 7 September 2013.

However, these few kilometres may be the only road work done for a long time (if they are done at all), as Kevin and his colleagues have withdrawn $70 million of Commonwealth road funding from NSW this year.

The Sydney Morning Herald 15 December 2013:

Despite promises the Pacific Highway upgrade would be delivered sooner under an Abbott government, projects at Maclean and Ballina will be delayed and funding cut, the O'Farrell government has revealed.....

A NSW Budget document revealed last week that project planning on the Pacific Highway had been delayed, and Commonwealth roads funding would be reduced by $70 million this year.

A spokesman for NSW Roads Minister Duncan Gay said the Commonwealth funding had been ''rephased'', and would be paid in coming years.

Pacific Highway construction that was due to take place this year that will now be delayed includes ''priority three'' projects for dual carriageway upgrades between Woolgoolga and Ballina.

''Both the Australian and NSW governments share the goal of completing the Pacific Highway upgrade by 2020,'' the spokesman said.....

All of which leaves one wondering just how much of the $2.5 billion the Abbott Government promised NSW voters to upgrade the Pacific Highway over the next two and a half years, the North Coast will actually see as new dual road on the ground.

Kevin Hogan has some explaining to do.

Pacific Highway federal funding fast tracked

R&MS Pacific Highway Status of Dual Carriageway map current January 2013

Click on images to enlarge

The Federal Labor Government has approved a further $282.3 million to complete the necessary planning and pre-construction activities along the 155 kilometre Woolgoolga to Ballina section of the Pacific Highway.

Federal Infrastructure and Transport Minister Anthony Albanese said the package of preparatory works had been fast-tracked with the aim of getting construction workers and their equipment onsite upgrading this stretch of highway as soon as possible. [Albanese & Saffin media release,12 June 2013]

Saffin comes out fighting over upgrading the Pacific Highway

STATEMENT ON UPGRADE OF THE PACIFIC HIGHWAY

WHEN I was elected in 2007 I made a commitment to secure funds for the Pacific Highway to ensure that it would be rolled out in our region and in a timely way.

I have done what I committed to, and in this case, so has the Federal Minister responsible Anthony Albanese.

He has allocated $7.9 billion for the dual carriageway works in six years of this Federal Government.

This is an extra $6.6 billion more than that allocated by the previous Federal Coalition government, which allocated $1.3 billion over 12 years.

Some of the funding came from stimulus funds during the height of the Global Financial Crisis. It was good to get this extra money.

The Ballina Bypass was first completed as the planning had been done and that has helped the development of the Pacific Highway in our region enormously, in terms of safety and the 1800 jobs that it created.

The Devil’s Pulpit section (Tabbimoble) is being done now with $62 million in Federal funding and $15 million from New South Wales.

The same is happening there with the project creating 87 construction jobs and I met local lads who scored some of these jobs. 

The planning works for the stretch from Woolgoolga to Grafton, Woodburn, Broadwater, Wardell and Ballina have also been done.

The pre-construction works from Woolgoolga to Grafton, Woodburn, Broadwater, Wardell and Ballina are the next to be done.

I am told that the NSW Roads and Maritime Services is ready to go on with this work. 

Following my recent meetings with Minister Albanese to discuss the Pacific Highway, I understand that significant Federal dollars will soon be released for the highway.

I have asked him to come to Grafton and make an announcement on this so that the public can hear from him and me together.

Regarding the O’Farrell-Stoner Government’s reneging on the 50/50 funding agreement for the Pacific Highway upgrade, the facts are as follows:

The parameters of this long-standing agreement were set by John Howard when he was Prime Minister.

It is instructive to note that the former NSW Labor government provided a total of $2.5 billion for the highway during the Howard years, not only complying with the agreement but doing even better, to a point where it was spending

$2 for every $1 spent by the Federal Coalition.

Barry O’Farrell and Andrew Stoner repeatedly promised when in Opposition to continue this arrangement, but broke this promise after winning the 2011 March election. They said they wanted to change it to an 80/20 funding split, and of itself, that would be ok if they did not lie, but lie they did, saying it had always been 80/20.

It was a cunning ploy because due to the GFC there had been more stimulus money made available, so they took this extra windfall and said, see 80/20!

“The Coalition will declare the Pacific Highway as a road of national importance and will, on a dollar-for-dollar basis with the State governments, commit $75 million per year over a period of ten years to a special program of upgrading the highway...” – John Howard-led Coalition election policy: Transport for the Next Century, February 7, 1996.

“It was the Howard Government that set the 50/50 funding split for the Pacific Highway from 2006 and the NRMA has supported this approach since day one.” – NRMA Motoring & Services President Wendy Machin, February 27, 2012.

I mean, seriously, who are you going to believe?

I challenge my National Party opponent to deny the facts I have set out as follows, and if he does, it proves that he is either ignorant of this funding history or deceiving us.  Either way, it is not a good look for someone who aspires to represent the people of the Federal seat of Page. 

“The Pacific Highway is a State road, designed, built, owned and maintained by the NSW Government.” – Federal Nationals Member for Cowper Luke Hartsuyker, demanding that NSW Labor fund it 50/50, in 2006.

I mean, seriously, who are you going to believe here?

“Should we be elected next March, one of the first things I’ll do is sit down with Anthony Albanese and talk about spending up the project ... The Pacific Highway should be above party politics. It’s an ongoing partnership between the Federal Government and the State Government.” – NSW Liberals Leader Barry O’Farrell, The Northern Star, April 9, 2010.

“The NSW Liberals and Nationals will immediately fast-track the upgrade of the Pacific Highway if elected in March.” – NSW Nationals Leader Andrew Stoner, Media Release, February 21, 2011.

“Our plan is to make sure that the upgrade of the highway to dual carriageway will be completed by 2016.” – NSW Roads Minister Duncan Gay, The Coffs Coast Advocate, April 6, 2011.

I mean, seriously, who are you going to believe?

I am going with the facts as evidenced by third party sources such as the NRMA President and former Prime Minister John Howard.

It is clear that my National Party opponent, along with the current Nationals Leader Warren Truss, has decided to try and make this an election issue, causing unnecessary concern in the community. 

I can declare that I am not buying into their fabricated nonsense and promises to complete it by some time this decade, having gone from 2016 to now 2020; saying they will use funds from the Parramatta-Epping rail line in Sydney, which are just not there since the O’Farrell-Stoner Government decided that it did not want to do that work.

It is classic National Party tactic; say anything, muddy the debate, try to create confusion and then promise to fix it, whatever it is. 

I cannot abide this sort of tactic as too many people have lost their lives in accidents on the highway, leaving families suffering terribly, and I believe to deliberately deceive people on this issue is unconscionable.

I shall stand on my record of being straight with the electorate, of being consistent, no matter who is government and at what levels. If my own need a serve, I will give them one; securing funding for the Pacific Highway upgrade and having the work done in our area; and importantly, of not having played games with it, trying to seek political advantage as my National Party opponent now seeks to do, aided and abetted by his NSW State Coalition colleagues.

Shame on all of them, I say.

There has to be some areas which are off limits in political life and this is one of them.  I realised that I kept arguing with them and that is pointless, as once they have lied they will again.  

On the North Coast alone, the Ballina Bypass, the Glenugie Upgrade, and the Banora Point Upgrade are all done, finished.

In addition, we’ve started work on The Devil’s Pulpit Upgrade and the duplication of the section between Tintenbar and Ewingsdale, and planning works are done for the remaining stretch between Woolgoolga and Ballina.

The roll out of the upgrade is decided between the State and Federal authorities and it is done where it is most dangerous.

That is a hard call as there are so many dangerous spots, but that is how it is.  It would be great if it could roll out all at once, but it is a working highway and one which we need to upgrade section by section.

I remain committed to getting the job done. The Nationals simply cannot be believed.

Janelle Saffin MP

Federal Member for Page.

Tuesday, June 11, 2013.

Pacific Highway Upgrade: Saffin says Hartsuyker and Hogan talking rot

Media Release Tuesday 5 March, 2013

Saffin says Federal Pacific Highway funding is quarantined

Page MP Janelle Saffin today said Australian Government’s funding for the Pacific Highway has been quarantined and is guaranteed, no matter what.

Ms Saffin said the Nationals MP Luke Hartsuyker knows that the Pacific Highway funding is guaranteed and has nothing at all to do with funding for Sydney roads.

“The Member for Cowper is just talking rubbish when he says he’s worried about the Federal Government’s announcement of $1.5 billion for the WestConnex project in Western Sydney.

“And it just shows how politically hapless Kevin Hogan is to follow Luke Hartsuyker, and trot out the same rot.

“I note that they made no comment last October when Tony Abbott announced the $1.5 billion for the WestConnex project last October.

“I find it extraordinary that the Nationals can keep a straight face when they talk about the Pacific Highway, given the poor funding record from 1996-2007 under the Federal Liberal National Coalition Government.

“The Federal Labor Government is already investing a record $4.1 billion into the Pacific Highway and has put an additional $3.56 billion on the table.

“By comparison, the former Howard Government, of which Luke was a member, could only manage to spend $1.3 billion on the Highway during their 12 long years in office – and that’s despite being Australia’s highest ever taxing government.

“As Luke knows, the $2.3 billion for the Pacific Highway remaining from last year’s Budget is guaranteed and just needs the O’Farrell Government to  honour it’s pre-election commitment  to its share of funding for the upgrade.

“Instead of getting stuck into me, if Luke is so concerned, he should direct his energies to getting his State coalition colleagues to honour their commitment to matching the highway funding.

“Last year the NSW Coalition Government ran out of excuses not to put in its share when the State Auditor-General revealed the O’Farrell Government’s $1 billion mistake in its sums.

“State or Federal, the Nationals don’t have a good record of delivering on the Pacific Highway when in Government, although they  make a big noise about the Highway when in opposition.”

Lee DuncanMedia Adviser
Office of Janelle Saffin MP
Federal Member for Page
Ph: 6621.9909   

The Federal Member for Page Janelle Saffin reminds Truss and Hogan that they are talking hypocritical nonsense

 

 

Federal Nationals should speak the truth about the Pacific Highway upgrade

 

“Quite frankly, I am fed up with Mr Truss flitting in and flitting out of our electorate, making glib promises which are not budgeted for, and for misleading statements about funding responsibility.

 

“It is galling to have to be involved in such negative debate, when so many positive things are taking place.

 

“If he wants to say we are funding it, say it and leave it at that.  He and Mr Hogan need to stop throwing dirt, especially when they have no credible ground to stand on.

 

“I stand on my record of hard work and securing major road infrastructure – the Ballina and Alstonville bypasses – the Glenugie part of the Pacific Highway upgrade, work underway on the Pacific Highway at Tabbimobile (Devil’s Pulpit) and my continued push for more highway projects like these to come online as the Woolgoolga to Ballina upgrade and planning works gather pace.

 

“Mr Truss’s record as Federal transport minister in the Coalition government was woeful; they spent just $1.3 billion on the Pacific Highway over 12 years compared with Federal Transport and Infrastructure Minister Anthony Albanese and Labor’s investment of $4.1 billion over six years. 

 

“It doesn’t matter how many times he stands beside the highway and says there is some mythical 80:20 funding split, it doesn’t make it true. It has always been a 50:50 funding agreement.  When Mr Truss admits to this, then I shall treat him seriously. Until then, I shall ignore his nonsense.

 

“When Mr Truss was Federal transport minister, he wanted a 50:50 split:  In case he has forgotten, some of his quotes are as follows:

 

“… We required it and the NSW Labor government agreed to matching funding. The Pacific Highway will receive … an extra $160 million in 2005/06, with matching funds to be provided by the NSW Government, to accelerate the duplication works.” – Truss media statement May 9, 2006.

 

“Finally the State (Labor) government has agreed to match the Australian Government spending on the Pacific Highway and we will now work to increase the momentum of construction … with the objective of completing a continuous four-lane road to Tweed Heads by 2016.” – Truss media statement September 29, 2005.

 

“Mr Truss and Mr Hogan may have missed the news, but State Member for Ballina Don Page and I put out a joint media release last Friday announcing that soft soil treatment work was underway at Pimlico near Ballina to help lay the groundwork for the continuing upgrade of the highway.

 

“There is Federal Government money on the table and I shall secure our share for us, as planning work proceeds,” Ms Saffin concluded.  

 

Tuesday, January 15, 2013.